A substrate processing apparatus capable of preventing the abnormal discharge from being generated on a substrate. A housing chamber houses the substrate. A mounting stage arranged in the housing chamber, is configured to enable the substrate to be mounted thereon. A disc-like electrode structure is connected to a high-frequency power supply, and connected to a gas supply apparatus via at least one gas supply system. The electrode structure has therein at least one buffer chamber and a plurality of connecting sections connected to the gas supply system. The buffer chamber is communicated with the inside of the housing chamber via a number of gas holes, and is communicated with the gas supply system via the plurality of connecting sections. The plurality of connecting sections for the buffer chamber are arranged on the circumference of a circle centering around the center of the electrode structure at equal intervals.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A substrate processing apparatus comprising: a chamber that houses a substrate; a mounting stage that is arranged in the chamber, the substrate being mounted on the mounting stage, a first high-frequency power being supplied to the mounting stage; a disk-shaped shower head that is arranged such as to face the mounted substrate and that has a number of penetrating gas holes, a second high-frequency power being supplied to the shower head; a first pipe that is connected to the shower head and that supplies processing gas and additional gas to the shower head; a second pipe that is connected to the shower head and that supplies the processing gas and the additional gas to the shower head; a branch flow rate adjusting apparatus that adjusts a flow rate of the processing gas and the additional gas via the first pipe and that adjusts a flow rate of the processing gas and the additional gas via the second pipe; a first buffer vacancy that is comprised of a space formed in a center of the shower head; a second buffer vacancy that is comprised of an annular space formed at a peripheral portion of the shower head; and an annular partition wall member that separates the first buffer vacancy and the second buffer vacancy, wherein: the annular partition wall member separates a space inside the shower head with respect to a horizontal-radial direction of the shower head so as to form the first buffer vacancy and the second buffer vacancy; the first pipe is branched into at least two branched pipes, and the branched pipes are connected to the first buffer vacancy along a circumference of a circle arranged thereon at equal intervals; the second pipe is branched into at least two branched pipes, and the branched pipes are connected to the second buffer vacancy along a circumference of a circle arranged thereon at equal intervals; the branched pipes of the first pipe are connected to the first buffer vacancy via at least two first connecting sections, and the branched pipes of the second pipe are connected to the second buffer vacancy via at least two second connecting sections, the first connecting sections consisting of a first pair of inlets to the first buffer vacancy are arranged on the circumference of a circle on the first buffer vacancy at equal intervals, the second connecting sections consisting of a second pair of inlets to the second buffer vacancy are arranged on the circumference of a circle on the second buffer vacancy at equal intervals, when the total number of the first and second connecting sections is set to n, the first and second pairs are arranged respectively at rotational angle positions of 360°/n ±3° in a rotational system centering around the center of the shower head regardless of whether each of the first and second connecting sections is arranged on the circumference of the circle on the first buffer vacancy or the circumference of the circle on the second buffer vacancy, and the mixture of the processing gas and the additional gas is supplied symmetrically with respect to the center of the shower head and uniformly into the chamber so as to make uniform the distribution of an electric field generated in a processing space inside the chamber.
2. A substrate processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the shower head is configured by a ceiling electrode plate, a cooling plate, and an upper electrode body which are stacked in this order from the side of a processing space of the chamber, and the ceiling electrode plate, the cooling plate, and the upper electrode body are made of a conductive material.
3. A substrate processing apparatus as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the cooling plate has a coolant chamber therein and at least two coolant introducing sections from which a coolant is supplied to the coolant chamber, and the coolant introducing sections are arranged symmetrically with respect to the center of the shower head.
4. A substrate processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a power supply tube that is directly connected to a central portion of the shower head so as to supply the second high-frequency power to the shower head.
5. A substrate processing apparatus as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the outside of the power supply tube is covered by a case-shaped grounding conductive member, and a portion of the first pipe existing in the inside of the grounding conductive member and a portion of the second pipe existing in the inside of the grounding conductive member are made of an insulating material.
6. A substrate processing apparatus as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the portion of the first pipe existing in the inside of the grounding conductive member and the portion of the second pipe existing in the inside of the grounding conductive member are made of a resin.
7. A substrate processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein for only two of the first and second connecting sections, the first pair and the second pair are arranged at a rotational angle separation of 90°±3° in the rotational system centering around the center of the shower head regardless of whether each of the first and second connecting sections is arranged on the circumference of the circle on the first buffer vacancy or the circumference of the circle on the second buffer vacancy.
8. A substrate processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , for three of the first and second connecting sections, the first pair and the second pair are arranged at a rotational angle separation of 60°±3° in the rotational system centering around the center of the shower head regardless of whether each of the first and second connecting sections is arranged on the circumference of the circle on the first buffer vacancy or the circumference of the circle on the second buffer vacancy.
9. A substrate processing apparatus comprising: a chamber that houses a substrate; a disk-shaped shower head that is arranged such as to face the housed substrate and has a number of penetrating gas holes for supplying gas into the chamber, a second high-frequency power being supplied to the shower head; a first buffer vacancy that is comprised of a space formed in a center of the shower head; a second buffer vacancy that is comprised of an annular space at least formed at a peripheral portion of the shower head; the annular partition wall member separates the first buffer vacancy and the second buffer vacancy; a first pipe that is symmetrically branched with respect to the center of the shower head and introduces the gas into the first buffer vacancy, the branched portions of the first pipe being arranged on the circumference of a circle on the first buffer vacancy at equal intervals; a second pipe that is symmetrically branched with respect to the center of the shower head and introduces the gas into the second buffer vacancy, the branched portions of the second pipe being arranged on the circumference of a circle on the second buffer vacancy at equal intervals; first clamps that connect the first pipe to the first buffer vacancy; and second clamps that connect the second pipe to the second buffer vacancy wherein when the total number of the branched portions of the first and second pipes is set to n, each of the branched portions of the first and second pipes is arranged at each rotational angle of 360°/n ±3° in a rotational system centering around the center of the shower head.
10. A substrate processing apparatus as claimed in claim 9 , further comprising a branch flow rate adjusting apparatus connected to the first and second pipes, wherein the gas includes processing gas and additional gas.
11. A substrate processing apparatus as claimed in claim 9 , further comprising additional buffer vacancies having respective gas supplies.
12. A substrate processing apparatus as claimed in claim 9 , further comprising a mounting stage that is arranged in the chamber, a first high-frequency power supply that is connected to the mounting stage, and a second high-frequency power supply that is connected to the shower head, wherein the substrate is mounted on the mounting stage.
13. A substrate processing apparatus as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the first and second pipes are made of a resin.
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February 12, 2008
October 9, 2012
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